Unfortunately, spills can happen on any flooring surface. When that red wine lands on your light colored carpet, it can cause the heart to skip a beat. Fortunately, there is a quick and easy method to tackle the spill unless it’s beyond repair. In that case, know to call the professionals to help you. Whether you’re the one that spilled the wine, saw it spill, found it after the fact – knowing how to treat a stain like red wine is a good skill to have. Here is a go-to method to quickly give it the attention it needs.
1. Act Fast
Time is the most important thing. Getting to the red wine spill as quickly as possible will make all the difference. It can be hard, when the house is full of guests and kids running around, to get to the ground to start blotting, but it’s well worth it. The reason speed works so well is quite simple – the less time it has to absorb the fibers of the carpet, the easier it is to remove the stain
2. Try Water First
If you’re able to get to the wine stain quickly, you will be amazed at how effective just plain, hot water can be. You can use a wet cloth, spray bottle, or a couple of drops from a cup and blot the stain right out. One thing to be mindful of is to not over saturate the carpet all the way to the carpet pad. Once you’ve added some water, it’s time to blot.
3. Don’t Scrub, Blot Instead
That’s right – do not scrub. While our instincts might be to scrub scrub scrub, scrubbing red wine out of carpet can do more damage than good. Scrubbing a stain on any fabric or fiber drives the stain further in, and if the friction is enough, it can heat the fibers and chemically bond the stain to the carpet. Yikes!
That’s why we suggest you blot the red wine stain from the outside in. Blotting from the edges of the stain prevents the stain from further spreading, which is precisely what you want. Again, use a spray bottle of water or a damp rag and gently blot from the outside in. Repeat this process until the stain is no longer visible
4. Cold Water Time
After you blot and think you have the majority of the red wine stain out of your carpet, pour just a couple drops of cold water over where the stain was. This will help dilute whatever is left and show you if there is any stain remaining. Now, when we say just a couple little drops, we mean it, nothing more at all. If you see a bit more stain, repeat the process and blot from the outside until the stain is gone.
5. Apply a stain remover
If plain water alone isn’t doing the trick, you can use Berkley Green’s stain remover. Use according to the directions listed on the bottle. Typically, the process is to wait until the cleaning product settles and then dab it off with a clean cloth.
If everything you try fails to remove the stain, it is time to call in the pros. They can use industrial products to return your carpet to its pre-stain condition.